


My Muse

by monekosensei



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cold guy and cheerful girl, F/M, Gaku-senpai, Gakutsumu, OOC, Painter Gaku, Tamaki and Aya as GakuTsumu kids, Tsumugi-kouhai, shoujo manga tropes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-17
Updated: 2020-01-17
Packaged: 2021-02-27 16:21:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22290103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monekosensei/pseuds/monekosensei
Summary: How can you know the beauty of love when you don't want to open your eyes to reality?
Relationships: Takanashi Tsumugi/Yaotome Gaku
Kudos: 8





	My Muse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Meow!! ฅ^•ﻌ•^ฅ This is originally a one-shot, exactly as this flow:
> 
> 1\. Gaku saw Tsumugi
> 
> 2\. Tsumugi saw Gaku's paintings of her 
> 
> The end.
> 
> But as I was washing the dishes (that's my role lol), I was like, WHAT IF WE MAKE THIS A TRITE SHOUJO PLOT with a broken guy who'll be fixed by a girl lol so yeah don't expect too much because this is just me testing a cold and distant kinda aloof Gaku :I

Gaku sighed for the nth time. He didn't know how many pieces of paper he had already thrown at the trash bin just beside the park bench he's sitting on. He glanced at it. Oh. It's beyond half. 

He thought strolling around the park would help him envision a picture to paint for the school exhibition three weeks from now. If only Ryuu (3rd year, art club's current president) didn't support Ten's (1st year, art club secretary) idea of exhibiting "beauty-inspired" motif, then he would have no problem.

Ryuu specializes in drawing animals with an impressionism style. Ten's forte is abstract landscape. Gaku is more on the surrealism side. What pops in his mind, he strokes. That's why he's having a dilemma. He's neither professional nor the kind of artist to draw whatever he's requested to. 

How can he draw something beautiful when he doesn't know the meaning of beauty?

For two weeks time, instead of going home straight to experiment color combinations, he's ambling around the town, hoping to capture a "beauty-inspired" image to paint. Unfortunately today, he's already ran out of water colors. His sketchpad was almost out of blank sheets. He looked above the orange and purple pastel sky. He sighed again. 

Just when he's ready to surrender another day, he heard a teetering sound behind. Funny how he didn't realize there's a bush behind the bench when he's visiting the park for five days already.

"There! There! I have a lot!" A girl's voice chirped.

When he stood up and peeked to fill his curiosity, he found a blond girl wearing a pink hoodie and black skirt feeding three white rabbits. She's only wearing slippers.

"All of you seem to be so hungry todayー" she cut off herself when she glanced at her left side and saw a floating mini notepad above the bush. "W-W-W-W-Wah...!"

"You can move," a low cold voice demanded behind the notepad and the bush.

But her body froze instead. "W-What are youー"

"I'm sketching."

With his tone, she had no choice but to remain crouching on the grass while the three rabbits nibbled at the food on her palms. How could she move freely when she's being conscious of a stranger's presence? After a few minutes, he finally spoke, "Done."

She slowly turned her head to the source of the voice. A silver-haired guy wearing a white round neck shirt. "Umm..."

"Sorry. Just need it for school," he quickly reasoned as he stood up from crouching, inserting his mechanical pencil and notepad inside his jeans pockets.

"I-I-It's fine...I was just...a bit...," her voice faded and didn't extend to the last word when he met her gaze.

"Will you be here tomorrow?" He asked out of the blue. 

She immediately stood up and nodded. "Y-Y-Y-Yes!" 

He was slightly surprised by her gestures. After a few seconds, he let out a small chuckle. "I'll give you something for helping me out."

"Is that necessary...? I didn't do anything at all..."

"Think of it as a commission?"

She glanced at the rabbits which were rubbing their heads at her lower legs. "I'm just feeding the bunnies...And isn't it supposed to be the other way around...?"

Using the back of his hand, he tried to suppress his chortle. "Just see you tomorrow."

Before she could reply, the silver head with a sketchbook between his underarm and side of his upper chest has started walking away.

* * *

An ivory-haired frowned at the canvas Gaku's working on at the club room. "Here I thought you have finally something beautiful to paint." 

"Leave me alone," Gaku demanded while tapping his paintbrush on a green acrylic paint.

"I would but you're painting something that makes me want to puke."

"Beauty is relative."

Ten snickered, "Even a toddler won't describe hopping rabbits beautiful."

"Shut up and mind your wheat farm," Gaku spoke in an undertone.

Ten rolled his eyes before he wore his maroon painting apron. "I'll shut up if Ryuu finds your work beautiful."

"Good afternoon! Gaku! Ten!" A tanned tall guy greeted in high spirits upon sliding the door open. He was carrying a box of spray bottles.

Gaku put down his paint brush and looked at their club president. "Hey, Ryuu. What do you think of my painting?"

Ryuu closed the door and placed the box on the plastic table prior to checking the 2nd year student's half-complete art canvas.

"It's cute!"

Ten tried his best not to suppress his scornful laugh at the scowling silver head.

* * *

"Oh!" The blond girl exclaimed. She's wearing a sailor outfit uniform today, blue skirt until her knees.

Gaku scratched the back of his head explaining to her his circumstance. "Yeah. Sorry if I kinda scared you yesterday."

The girl who's sitting beside him on the park bench shook her head. "I was only nervous haha!"

"Here. Accept this." He handed a strawberry-flavored bread. One that he bought at the school cafeteria earlier.

The girl blushed unnoticeably. "I-I-I can't accept it!"

"Eh? Why not? Don't girls like sweet things?"

"I-I-It's not that...! I couldn't be of help to you at all."

"Nah. No worries. I'll figure it out on my own." He ended up placing it on the space between them.

She glanced at the bread and hesitantly took it on her hands. "Umm...Okay..."

He stood up from the bench. "I'll get going. Gonna walk around again."

"Ah..." She also rose from her seat after zipping her yellow backpack. "I'll be on my way too."

He inclined his head downward. "Thanks again. Take care." 

She pasted a bright smile on her face and bowed at him. "Good luckーE-E-E-E-Eh!?"

When she raised her head, she found him with his mini notepad again. He's sketching her. "Just a second."

"Umm...O-Okay...," she murmured as she stayed put.

Gaku fastened a curve in his lips, satisfied with what his fingers created from his sense of sight.

* * *

"Gaku. You're a disgrace to all campus hotties," Ten derided at the guy who's wearing a pink apron. 

"True men wear pink," he scoffed. He's working on the trees and the bushes as the background of his hopping rabbits. 

"Is that the trend for sexy guys now?" Ryuu joined in while arranging the art materials he used for his last water-themed artwork. He's almost finished, just the shadings of the colorful schools of fish left.

"Ask that brat there. Maybe he finds pink apron beautiful," Gaku taunted. He joined the art club last year to release stress, not to be stressed by their youngest member.

"Weirdo. I won't be surprised if the girl you like dumps you," Ten barbed before he continued stroking his paintbrush to create cirrus clouds on his canvas.

Ryuu had an opposite view. "I think the girl Gaku likes is lucky!" 

"The girl I like doesn't exist."

Ten jeered, "No wonder you can't draw something beautiful."

"I don't need to fall in love just to draw something beautiful."

Ryuu was oblivious to the tension. "I think you're misunderstanding, Gaku! Ten means you can draw inspiration from love! And many girls who like you exist!"

Sadly, Gaku is not a fan of love. Moreover, it was as if he wasn't searching all over inspiration for the past weeks. "Still not the case. I can find the inspiration I need somewhere."

"Somewhere that doesn't exist," the ivory head sniggered, waving his paintbrush to mock him more. 

The silver head grimaced. "Somewhere that doesn't fall under brocon."

"Don't worry, Gaku! You've finished the other one at your home, right? You still have 7 days left for one painting then!" Ryuu reminded. No pressure intended.

"That fountain with feathers? Seven days to change those three cute hopping rabbits into three artworks then," Ten added. Pressure intended.

* * *

After finishing his two out of three "beauty-inspired" artworks, Gaku visited the park. It has been almost two weeks since he has took a detour. He sauntered around with his left hand inside his pants pocket while his right hand above his shoulder was holding his briefcase bag.

"Ah!" A familiar voice from afar made him spin around. It was the blond girl. She's sitting on the fountain, feeding a flock of birds. What's her name again? Wait. He never asked for her name.

He paced toward where she's sitting and shot him a short smile. "Yo."

Which she returned with a big one. "Hello, senpai!"

"Senpai?" He threw her a confused look.

"Umm...Your uniform...Ainana Academy," she weakly pointed out. 

"Ah. Yeah. Yaotome Gaku, second year," he casually introduced as he offered a handshake.

The girl was taken aback by his laid-back actions. "T-T-T-Takanashi T-T-Tsumugi! Last year in junior high!"

He let out a small chuckle at her reaction while shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you. Mind if I sit?"

Tsumugi composed herself, trying to expel the pinkness of her cheeks. "Of course!" When he sat beside her, she asked, "Have you finished your paintings for next week's exhibition?"

He was surprised she remembered about it. "One more. But one of my club mates doesn't like what I've painted so far."

"Why is that?" 

He placed his briefcase on the bricked ground, leaning on the cemented fountain. "I don't know to him."

She didn't know anything about art from a painter's perspective so she just decided to zip her lips. A few moments of only the flowing water from the fountain and the chirping birds as their background noises, she rummaged her bag. "Umm...Y-Yaotome-senpai?"

He hummed in response as he rested both of his hands on the narrow loop seat of the fountain.

"H-Here...Please accept this..."

"Huh?" He could't see the entire details of the ticket since her thumbs were covering the middle portion. 

"It's an entrance to the flower park."

"Flower park?" He took the ticket. 

She beamed at him. "Have you visited it? They renovated some areas recently!"

"Uhh, no." The last time he went there with his other club members was very annoying. Anesagi, their club adviser, just kept on blabbering about her love life that he ended up painting a withered garden of black rose out of his disappointment at the club tour.

Her face glowed. "I think there are many beautiful sights there!" 

"I really don't have good memories of that park," he mumbled.

She innocently questioned. "Is it because of the entrance fee?"

He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that too. I can just surf the net for flowers."

"But isn't a moment more beautiful when you captured it with your own eyes?"

Gaku was left speechless with her statement. True. He could have taken a picture of her when she was feeding the rabbits and when she suddenly smiled brightly at him, but he chose to sketch her on the spot twice, though the former sounded wrong in all angles.

When she noticed his silence, she quickly apologized. "I-I-I'm sorry! I'm speaking nonsense ahahaha...!"

"I'll just buy my own ticket." He was giving back the thin paper.

"Please take it! My classmate gave it to me but I can't come tomorrow. I have no one else to give it to so...it might help you. The beauty-inspired motif you're talking about..."

"I see." He inserted the ticket inside the chest pocket of his white polo shirt after reading the details. "Why can't you come though?"

"A practice for our drama club...," her voice grew quiet.

"Cool. You must be good in acting."

A tint of pink sprayed across her cheeks. "I-I-I'm not acting...! I'm just working behind the scenes ahahaha...!"

Which were seen by his eyes. "You're blushing." 

Which she hoped he didn't observe, causing her to blush harder. "B-B-B-B-Because someone as cool as Yaotome-senpai is casually talking with meー," she interrupted herself. "S-S-Sorry...I'll excuse myself...!" She swiftly stood up and bowed her head.

Gaku was your average campus crush who often receives confessions. And often rejects girls too who kept fawning over him. Normally, his female classmates would ingratiate themselves with him just to get his attention. Girls from other sections and year levels would cajole him every single time they spot him on the campus grounds. It was as if it's the first time they've seen a guy with a silver curly hair. They all end up annoying him. How does Ryuu handle it for three years?

On the one hand, this girl was too modest. Which he found partially strange yet cute. "Wait...," his voice faded when he realized that she took advantage of the time he spent pondering to leave. So he chased her.

Tsumugi was shocked with the tight grip on her wrist. "E-Eh?" 

It was a Gaku with a serious mien despite catching his breath. "Phone..."

She completely turned around to face him. "P-Phone...?"

"Give me your phone. I'll register my contact details," he said while he opened his palm in front of her. 

"O-Okay..." She handed him her phone from her skirt pocket without tearing her gaze away from his.

He returned her phone shortly. "I'll wait for your message."

A tint of pink started displaying again across her cheeks. "W-Why did Yaotome-senpai..."

"You said it's better to see in real than to look at an image. I'll show you my paintings tomorrow after your practice," he elaborated, trying his best to keep his subtle redness hidden.

"O-Oh!" 

He slowly turned away. "I'll see you tomorrow." He began taking his footsteps.

"W-Wait!" She tugged the lower portion of his polo shirt. 

Gaku looked at her with enlarged eyes. "Y-Yeah?"

Tsumugi flashed him a blissful expression accompanied by a soft voice. "See you tomorrow too."

* * *

"It's cute!" An all-smile Tsumugi complimented the artwork on the park bench with three hopping bunnies in a flower field in the midst of a forest

"Is that so," Gaku's voice sounded disappointed. She just sounded like Ryuu in a female version. "How about this one?" He removed the cloth cover of the second canvas.

"It's...pure..." She slowly mumbled while her eyes remained captivated by the artwork with falling feathers around the only fountain among the ruins that were covered in flower vines.

"Then I failed."

"Failed...?" She tilted her head.

"You said it's cute and pure, " he flatly reiterated while covering the two paintings.

"Oh...I should have said they're beautiful...," she regretfully uttered. She was already aware that he was aiming for something along the lines of beauty.

"Don't sweat it. You're just being honest," he assured her with a short smile.

"Will you...," she didn't continue with words. She just made a hand gesture.

"Well. I need to make three. These two don't qualify so it's still three."

"...And you only have six days left," her voice was crestfallen. 

After tying the string, he wondered, "Why do you sound more depressed than I am?"

"I can relate with deadlines and pressure...," she sighed as she stared at the ground. "Anyway! YaotoーE-E-Eh!? Yaotome-senpai...!?" She shrieked as soon as she caught him sketching again. 

"For a while," he pleaded. Eyes focused on his mini notepad, frequently peeking at her.

"...T-This is the third time huh...Ahahaha!" She nervously laughed to remain calm inside.

"I'm good." He put back his two art materials inside his pockets.

Tsumugi converted the flow to its original course. "H-H-H-How was the flower park?"

"That park is," he paused to carefully choose his words. It was like he was only dabbed there as if he's a thick towel to dry one drop of sweat.

Two times he went there in his entire existence prior to today. The last time was with the art club, wasn't it. The first time was when her mother treated him in his 8th birthday, just to find out that his father was cheating. Exactly at that park too.

"That park...?" 

Her voice snapped him out. "...That park is not really for me. Sorry."

She shook her head lightly. "It's no problem. Yaotome-senpai doesn't have to flatter when it's not needed!"

He smiled a bit. "Thanks." Obviously, he's not much of a good talker. His cold personality deteriorates his social skills too.

The contrast of her characteristics. "I'll continue wishing for you to find your inspiration, Yaotome-senpai! If you can't find what you're searching for outside, try looking inside!"

For a second, an image of a flower-covered Tsumugi with an angelic smile on her face lingered inside his head. But he's afraid his mechanical pencil won't do justice to the beatific picture that was stored in his short term memory.

She's too beautiful to be on a canvas.

And Gaku finally had his eureka moment.

"That's it!" His low voice was full of the energy he's not utilizing at all in socialization. 

Tsumugi's body jerked up at his loud happy voice. "Y-Y-Yaotome-senpai...?"

Suddenly, he patted her head. "Thanks, Tsumugi."

Her body heated from toe to head. "E-E-E-Eh!?" Everything was happening too fast. Him petting her. Him calling her by her name only.

He removed his hand from her crown and took his canvases in his arms. "I'll see you in the exhibit."

Before she could ask to enlighten her dizzy head and thumping heart, he has already left. But the glow in his eyes and the big smile on his face remained vivid in her memory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the next chapter will have the normal shoujo conflicts lol U.U 
> 
> The last chapter (3) is saved for a digital art I asked my good friend France to draw for me for this story Q.Q
> 
> I'll finish updating this and the other story I have with Tsubumi (GakuTsumu Baby OC) then publish one chapter of this plot I have since last year......So 3 chapters to work on before I go hiatus.......
> 
> I’ll be very happy to know your comments/feedback!! (◡ ‿ ◡ ✿)


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